Transcript Chapter 12 Stress, Health, and Coping

Stress, and Health
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Stress
Optimism
Stressors
Pessimism
Social Readjustment Scale
Stress response
Confrontive coping
Social support
Planful problem solving
Health psychology Type A personality
Good stress
Type B personality
Problem-focused coping
Emotion-focused coping
What is stress?
• Stress is not just a stimulus response…stress
can be good and it can be bad
• Stress can occur as a result of adaptation.
Acculturative stress is the stress that results
from the pressure of adapting to a new
culture.
• Stress can also occur as a result of conflict is
the feeling of being pulled between two or
more opposing desires, motives, or goals.
Stress is widely defined as a negative emotional state occurring in response
to events that are perceived as taxing or exceeding a person’s resources or
ability to cope.
Stress often may lead to aggressive behaviors, aggression is any behavior that
is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally
Stress may also lead to self-indulgence or reduced impulse control
which may also lead to addictions
• Life is filled with potential stressors, which are events or situations
that produce stress.
• In some instances we respond to stress with the fight or flight,
other times we may become paralyzed with fear, shutting down
emotionally…men may turn to drugs, alcohol, sex, or become
aggressive
• Women tend to weather the storm that stress presents by deferring
to her social support group…holding each other, bonding together
releases oxytocin, a stress releasing hormone.
• To measure the amount of stress people experienced, early stress
researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed the Social
Readjustment Rating Scale, which included 43 life events that
require some level of adaptation.
• Holmes and Rahe found that people who had more than 150 life
change units within a year had an increased rate of physical or
psychological illness.
• There are gender differences in the frequency and
experience of daily stress.
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• (1) One study of married couples found that the women
experienced both more daily hassles and higher levels of
psychological stress than their husbands did.
• What is the most common source of daily stress for men?
• (2) The most common sources of daily stress for men are
financial and job related
• What is the most common source of daily stress for
women?
• the most common sources for women are family demands
and interpersonal conflict.
• (3) When women experience stress, it is more likely to spill
over into interactions with their family; men tend to
withdraw.
Social Factors: A Little Help from Your
Friends
• Social support refers to the resources provided by other people in
times of need.
• How Social Support Benefits Health
• Social support may benefit our health and improve our ability to
cope with stressors in several ways.
• a. The social support of friends and relatives can modify our
appraisal of a stressor’s significance, including the degree to which
we perceive it as threatening or harmful.
• b. The presence of supportive others seems to decrease the
intensity
• of physical reactions to a stressor.
• c. Social support can influence our health by making us less likely to
experience negative emotions.
• The support of friends may prevent someone from giving up or
blaming themselves…remember learned helplessness
• Humor is a great stress reliever and coping strategy
Chemical Effects…
Stress and the Endocrine System
• Health psychology is the branch of psychology that studies how
biological, behavioral, and social factors influence health, illness,
medical treatment, and health-related behaviors.
• Your immune system defends your body against illness…the
immune system destroys bacteria, viruses, and other foreign
substances.
• The immune system includes two types of white blood cells, called
lymphocytes…lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release
antibodies that fight infections…
• Age, nutrition, genetics, body temperature, and stress all influence
the immune system’s activity…if the immune system responds too
strongly, it may attack the body’s own system, if the immune
system responds too slowly, the immune system may allow for
dormant viruses to attack (multiply)
• When we deplete the
levels of serotonin, we
experience depression.
• Stress initiates the fightor-flight response. This
response is marked by
the presentation of
epinephrine,
norepinephrine, and
production of excessive
cortisol. Chronic stress
also leads to negative
affects, and poor
physiological health.
• Excessive fatigue can
lead to critical
exhaustion.
Walter Cannon: Stress and the Fightor-Flight Response
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The fight-or-flight response is a physiological chain of internal physical
reactions that prepare people either to fight or take flight from an immediate
threat.
The hypothalamus and lower brain structures activate the sympathetic
nervous system, which stimulates the adrenal medulla to secrete hormones
called catecholamines, which include adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Hans Selye: Stress and the General Adaptation Syndrome
The general adaptation syndrome is a three-stage progression of physical
changes that occurs when an organism is exposed to intense and prolonged
stress.
(1) During the initial alarm stage, intense arousal occurs as the
body mobilizes internal physical resources to meet the
demands of the stress-producing event.
(2) In the resistance stage, the body actively tries to resist or
adjust to the continuing stressful situation.
(3) If the stress-producing event persists, the exhaustion stage
may occur, leading to exhaustion, physical disorders, and,
potentially, death.
Emotion and the Two-Track Brain
Arousal can linger. Without being consciously aware of having seen
it, we can be influenced by a stimulus flashed too briefly to
interpret. A subliminally presented happy face can encourage
subjects to drink more than when presented with an angry face
(Berridge & Winkeilman, 2003).
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Emotions are felt directly through the amygdala (a) or through the cortex (b) for analysis.
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(1) In response to a stressor, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary
gland to secrete a hormone called adrenocorticotropic
hormone (ACTH).
(2) ACTH stimulates the adrenal cortex to release stress-related
hormones called corticosteroids, the most important of
which is cortisol.
(3) In the short run, the corticosteroids help protect the body
against the harm caused by stressors.
4) Chronic stress or repeated episodes of acute stress can lead
to cardiovascular disease.
Stress and Aids, and Cancer
The number of daily hassles is linked to both psychological distress and physical
symptoms, and it is a better predictor of physical illness than is the number of
major life events experienced.
Aids is an immune disorder-acquired immune deficiency syndrome caused by the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)…is spread by the exchange of bodily fluids,
i.e., semen and blood
Researchers have found that stress and negative emotions correlate with a
progression from HIV infection to AIDS and the speed of decline in those
infected…a reduction in stress would help with treatment
• Although there is no correlation with stress and the developing
cancer, but there might be a correlation with stress weakening the
immune system and the body’s functioning
• One reason that daily hassles can take a toll on us is that such minor
stressors are cumulative.
• Individual Factors That Influence the Response to Stress
• Psychological Factors
• 1. Personal Control people need to feel that they have personal
control
• 2. Explanatory Style: Optimism Versus Pessimism
• (1) People who have an optimistic explanatory style tend to
• use external, unstable, and specific explanations for negative
• events.
• (2) People who have a pessimistic explanatory style use
• internal, stable, and global explanations for negative events.
• b. Studies have shown that a pessimistic explanatory style is
associated with poorer physical health.
Promoting Health, Coping with Stress
• Coping refers to the ways in which we try to change
circumstances, or interpretations of circumstances, to
make them more favorable and less threatening.
• Two Ways of Coping: Problem-Focused and EmotionFocused Coping
• Problem-focused coping is aimed at directly changing
or managing a threatening or harmful stressor.
Problem-focused coping strategies tend to be most
effective when you can exercise some control over the
stressful situation or circumstances.
• Emotion-focused coping is aimed at relieving or
regulating the emotional impact of a stressful situation.
• According to the evolutionary perspective, the most
adaptive response is one that promotes the survival of
the individual and his or her offspring.
• When people use aggressive or risky efforts to
change the situation, they are engaging in
confrontive coping.
• Planful problem solving involves efforts to
rationally analyze the situation, identify
potential solutions, and then implement
them.
• People often use multiple coping strategies in
stressful situations, combining problemfocused and emotion-focused strategies.
• Again…humor and/or exercise are great
coping strategies
Culture and Coping Strategies
• Members of individualistic cultures tend to emphasize personal
autonomy and personal responsibility in dealing with problems;
thus, they are less likely to seek social support in stressful situations
than are members of collectivistic cultures; they favor problem
focused strategies.
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• In collectivistic cultures, however, a greater emphasis is placed on
controlling personal reactions to a stressful situation than on trying
to control the situation itself; thus, people in these cultures favor
emotion-focused strategies.
• **Chronic Negative Emotions: The Hazards of Being Grouchy
• reported that people who are habitually anxious, depressed,
angry, or hostile are more likely to develop a chronic disease.
• Optimists (rather than
• Studies indicate that
pessimists) perceive
our basic outlook can
influence how we deal
more control, cope better
with stress and
with stressful events,
excessive fatigue.
• Research with rats and and enjoy better health
humans indicates that
the absence of control
over stressors is a
predictor of health
problems.
• When we feel that we
have no control, we
experience feelings of
helplessness and
hopelessness.
Our appraisal also adds to the individual’s stress level, appraisal is how we
interpret the stress…you hear a noise in the middle of the night…
Stress can motivate and arouse us to deal with problems…
Type A Behavior and Hostility
• Type A behavior pattern as a behavioral and emotional
style characterized by a sense of time urgency, hostility, and
intense ambition and competitiveness.
• The most critical component of Type A behavior for
predicting cardiac disease was hostility.
• In contrast, people who were more relaxed and laid back
were classified as displaying the Type B behavior pattern.
• Relationships with others also can be a significant source of
stress.
• a. When other people are perceived as being judgmental,
their presence may increase the individual’s physical
reaction to a stressor.
• b. Stress may also increase when well-meaning friends or
family members offer unwanted or inappropriate social
support.
Managing Stress
• Aerobic exercise is a sustained exercise, such as
jogging, swimming, and biking, that increases heart
and lung fitness
• As we exercise, different chemicals are being released
• A sedentary lifestyle contributes to today’s high rate of
depression
• Less exercise means less brain activity in areas essential
for reward, motivation, and effective coping
• Exercise alleviates negative emotions, but not a little
exercise, moderate exercise…adds to quality and
quantity of life
Aerobic Exercise
Many studies suggest
that aerobic exercise can
elevate mood and wellbeing because aerobic
exercise raises energy,
increases self-confidence,
and lowers tension,
depression, and anxiety.
How?
As we exercise, serotonin,
endorphins, and
norepinephrine are
released, and dopamine
receptors in the brain are
stimulated. Exercise
increases cognitive
functioning.
Relaxation and Meditation
Studies have found that relaxation procedures can help
alleviate hypertension, anxiety, headaches, and insomnia
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The Benefits of Crying and Hugging
Dr. William Frey II,Ph.D found that emotional tears are
secreted when we are sad, angry, frustrated, or
overwhelmed in any way…and contain protein-based
hormones. These protein-based hormones, which our
body produces due to stress, reduce our ability to
function. Therefore, when we shed emotional tears,
our body is excreting toxins. As a result, for many,
crying is usually a cathartic experience. Research has
also found that among cancer patients, caressing or
being caressed can increase the effectiveness of
treatment.
• As people hug and cry, oxytocin is released,
calming immune functioning and stabilizing
the cardiovascular system; the chemical s
released by hugging is also involved in
lowering blood pressure.
• Oxytocin is involved in wound healing, and
increases trust and reduces fear.